South Africa is one of the most unequal economies globally. In this paper, we examine the design of its personal income tax (PIT), with a focus on its redistributive function. We apply the Pfähler decomposition method to analyse the redistributive effects of key components of the South African...

We study the electoral repercussions of the L'Aquila earthquake in 2009, one of Italy's most catastrophic post-WWII seismic events. We construct a unique municipality-level dataset, combining high-resolution data on the ground acceleration recorded during the earthquake with European election...

This paper investigates the relationship between inequality and redistributive taxation. It provides a review of existing research on the topic and a cross-country empirical analysis of this relationship. Using data from the World Income Inequality Database, Government Revenue Dataset, and other...

In a post land reformenvironment, violence and redistribution are substitutes for an opportunistic incumbent attempting industrialization. We setup a theoretical model to explore this relationship for individual and group level violence across two types of policy driven post...

This paper empirically tests Max Weber's thesis on how religious narratives, particularly the Protestant Ethic, influence attitudes toward wealth redistribution. Weber suggested that the Protestant Reformation, led to the belief that economic success was a sign of divine favor, legitimizing...

This paper refines the concept of disposable income by incorporating governmentprovided in-kind benefits for education and health services, as well as imputed VAT payments, following Figari and Paulus (2015). Our analysis reveals that including these elements significantly reduces income...

Nowadays, all policy makers must engage with direct and indirect carbon pricing issues. However, the implications of different types of tools and methods to price carbon and support decarbonization deserve further attention in view of their development implications. Two aspects-revenue recycling...

We formalize and estimate the dynamic marginal efficiency cost of redistribution (MECR) in the spirit of Okun’s “leaky bucket” to compare the MECR of an income-contingent childcare subsidy program and of the income-contingent tax and transfer schedule. We set up a dynamic structural model...

We study whether the model minority stereotype about Asian Americans (e.g., hard-working, intelligent) reduces people's attention to inequality that adversely affects Asians. In a nationally representative US sample (N=3,257), we find that around 90% of the participants either moderately or...

Support for redistribution depends on whether inequality stems from differences in performance or luck, but different sources of luck may impact redistribution differentially. We elicit redistribution decisions from a U.S.-representative sample who observe worker earnings and whether luck...

This paper explores the link between default risk and fiscal procyclicality. We show that countries with higher sovereign risk have a more procyclical fiscal expenditure policy, which is driven mostly by transfers. We build a small open economy model with income inequality, social transfers, and...

The economy is traditionally human-centered and has given too little consideration to plants, animals, climate, and nature in general. What should the economy do to become 'green'? Changing people's social norms would be ideal but is hard to achieve. Second best is to regulate and constrain the...

I investigate numerically the following question: Given that individuals with different wages disagree over the optimal labour-income tax schedule, how would such disagreements be affected if society restricted itself to using linear tax schedules? I find that there would be (i) a decrease in...

Women are severely underrepresented in American politics, especially among Republicans. This underrepresentation may result from women being less willing to run for office, from voter bias against women, or from political structures that make it more difficult for women to compete. Here we show...

Women are severely underrepresented in American politics, especially among Republicans. This underrepresentation may result from women being less willing to run for office, from voter bias against women, or from political structures that make it more difficult for women to compete. Here we show...

Over the last decades, the United States has experienced a large increase in, both, income inequality and living standards. The workhorse models of optimal income taxation call for more redistribution as inequality rises. By contrast, living standards play no role for taxes and transfers in...

This paper analyzes the relationship between economic growth, inequality and redistribution. In a cross-country setting for 25 EU countries over the period 2007-2019, we show that market income inequality is associated with higher growth in the short run. To estimate the impact of redistribution...

Protests and fiscal crises often coincide, with complex causal dynamics at play. We examine the interaction between tax revolts and sovereign risk using a quantitative structural model calibrated to Argentina during the Macri administration (2015-2019). In the model, the government can be...

A model of endogenous growth is presented, based on productive public expenditures, and featuring some degree of income inequality, and polarization in policy preferences. The main innovation lays in the political process determining capital taxation that relies, both on voting and on "influence...

In an online experiment, we examine how ingroup bias and fairness concerns shape the redistributive preferences of UK resident natives and immigrants. Natives and immigrants were paired in a series of distributive situations. They chose how to divide a pie created from either party's previous...

We study whether the model minority stereotype about Asian Americans (e.g., hard-working, intelligent) reduces people's attention to inequality that adversely affects Asians. In a nationally representative US sample (N=3,257), we find that around 90% of the participants either moderately or...

While there is increasing consensus in the academic debate on the regressive nature of energy subsidies and the necessity to reduce them, this is much less so for food subsidy reforms – not least because of the positive impact of food subsidies for food security. They make food affordable even...

Citizens and politicians rely on their knowledge of a pension system, particularly its redistributive features, when forming their preferences and evaluating its fairness. Taking advantage of the Bismarckian rule of proportionality in Germany, we provide experimental and survey-based evidence...

With the transition from the German national emissions trading system to the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS2) from 2027, final consumer prices for fossil motor and heating fuels are likely to rise significantly. This increase will affect low-income households more noticeably, as they...

Can inequality in rewards result in an erosion in broad-based support for meritocratic norms? We hypothesize that unequal rewards between the successful and the rest, drives a cognitive gap in their meritocratic beliefs, and hence their social preferences for redistribution. Two separate...

This paper empirically tests Max Weber’s thesis on how religious narratives, particularly the Protestant Ethic, influence attitudes toward wealth redistribution. Weber suggested that the Protestant Reformation, led to the belief that economic success was a sign of divine favor, legitimizing...

This paper analyzes the relationship between economic growth, inequality and redistribution. In a cross-country setting for 25 EU countries over the period 2007-2019, we show that market income inequality is associated with higher growth in the short run. To estimate the impact of redistribution...

Health insurance premiums often do not reflect individual health risks, implying redistribution from individuals with low health risks to individuals with high health risks. This paper studies whether more cost-sharing leads to less redistribution and to lower welfare of high-risk individuals....

We show that the effectiveness of redistribution policy is tied to how much inflation it generates, and thereby to monetary‐fiscal adjustments that ultimately finance the transfers. In the monetary regime, taxes increase to finance transfers while in the fiscal regime, inflation rises,...